Ever since I have been in Australia, I have noticed this certain commercial australian aesthetic in fashion. Day 4 had quite a few of these with KITX and C/MEO Collective made their debut with with such sensibility, catering to those masses and identifying with that Australian aesthetic which is chic, minimal and relaxed, something that is very important for designers to showcase to buyers is their retail strengths. However Day 4 was mostly dominated by shows that defied the social conventions as well going down the rebellious route. Subtlety was not their favorite word, where they were armed with quirky fun and statement design pieces. The whole day seemed like a constant battle of sorts between retail vs rebels.. hehe

TEA PARTY AT ROMANCE WAS BORN
Over the years Romance Was Born has gone bold, brazen and unapologetically over the top while retaining the same amount of crazy juxtaposition of element in their retail trickle down lines. However they do sometimes go a bit too OTT leaving it a bit gimmicky and this show had a few of those moments resulting in a few misses admist quite a few hits. Many of the pieces were easily transferable into a much more retail and many of the fun ones, a red carpet gown did catch my eye.. The garden tea party of Romance was Born was a mix with hits and misses. Quirky embroideries, big literal representations were in an array of some fun and some odd pieces…What is fun about them is they will try out different things within the retail space keeping their eclectic flair alive and fun, experimenting with things resulting in fun pieces like the kitschy embroidered gown, the sea horse embroidered bodice, the printed suite, the gold jacket, the piano dress, and I loved the styling of the yellow boots- green scarf- black jacket look… and they will style it accordingly as well – in its all splendour of their fantastical dream like space – but it was also accentuated with pieces like the quilted cocoon and the furry jester which did sort of stuck out in the whole sensuous dreamscape presentation – but as usual they maintained their eclectic selves and we love them for it.

WE ARE KINDRED
Just like their name, the debut by We are Kindred was quite the bohemian affair with pretty little things making their way on runway. Against a peony floral lit runway, the pieces of We are Kindred were bohemian, in relaxed shapes and breezy for the upcoming resort. the frocks, the printed jackets and dresses, the boiler suits, frocks and dresses in a soothing color palette was easy on the eyes. Feminine, flirty strong and bohemian was the vibe of the whole show that was perfect for a resort outing. There were solids, golds as well digital peony floral prints that constantly ran throughout the show. Offsetting such a heavy flower with lighter materials, We are Kindred played the master card of keeping things simple and better and aced at it. A strong debut

EMMA MULLHOLLAND’s SPACE JAM
While I have seen my share of galaxy inspired fashion shows (remember Nomi Ansari? ), Emma took on a rather young and youthful approach to the concept bringing on a futuristic freshness to it. A tricky terrain to step into since it could have easily ventured into a very Jetsons territory, Mullholland kept things interesting by going for a much more retro futuristic vibe. While not everyone’s cup of tea, when stripped off the dramatics, the collection had some very fun statement pieces like the patterned jumpsuits, the lightly layered dresses and the odd ball shoes. I would totally wear those alien sweatshirt/jumpers. The mark of a good collection is that one should be able to unravel the separates of the collection and imagine ways into how it could fit into their own style wardrobe and with this one I could totally envision that in many kinds of style statement closets…What’s more that this was the only show that had the most diverse range of models this season!! take a bow miss Mullholland!!

NO BLUES FOR TOME
Ramon Martin and Ryan Lobo’s Tome is one of those young fashion brands that I have been following for quite a while.this US based brand has been expanding its wings from competing for Vogue fashion fund to showcasing in Australia, the brand’s exponential growth has been commendable and very noteworthy (read envious :P(can’t help but be designer envious). Channeling their inspiration NINA SIMONE in this collection, Tome was the only brand that opened up their whole collection to be bought right after the runway presentation. Breaking the production cycle and bringing pieces from NYC just goes on to show how well prepped and forward thinking are the duo reigning this brand. Fun star shaped separated, dresses, culottes and fun floral prints, Tome’s knack of translating and ability to envisioning commercially yet pushing things experimentally where they can, is one of their strength that I really admire. The oversized dresses cinched at the waist, the one shoulder dresses were my absolute favorite. They had fun print accents with a solid color palette that oscillated between darker and lighter tones. With obvious references to the singer and her songs in the background, Tome just hit quite a few many high notes.

DISCOUNT UNIVERSE
While something like Discount Universe does not shock us anymore because the rebellion, the wild child, the rave party kid have all been explored brilliantly by legends like Margiela and Westwood, but the reason this collection mattered was because MBFWA needed a collection like that admist the same same minimal, chic outfits that had everyone’s instagram feed looking like a big palette of black and whites, devoid of much color. Go big or go home seemed to be the mantra of this brand which showcased some really fun outfits and looks that definitely caught everyone’s attention – quite the smart way to have a debut like that – makes an impact and keeps everyone talking. With obvious references to the 70’s wild child – that made a return in 2016 – there were fun embroidered jackets, leather dresses and jackets, jumpsuits, embroidered suits and it totally had me at some of the fun quirky and kitschy embroidered jackets. Gory makeup of models with showing middle fingers, the WTF attitude went perfectly with the eclectic clothes and blingy details. Bringing back text as a design element, the brand used it to its maximum capacity to their advantage along with the devilish rose motif amongst many others. A jolt is what they wanted to deliver and they did with this outing perfectly.